Federal investigators are collecting debris and evidence at a rural crash site in western Missouri after a skydiving plane carrying 11 passengers and a pilot crashed Sunday, killing everyone on board.
The Pacific Aerospace P750, operated by Skydive Kansas City, crashed near Butler, about 50 miles south of Kansas City, at approximately 11:20 a.m. local time Sunday, the FAA said. The agency stated the plane crashed while departing the airport and was not using air traffic services at the time — which it said was not required given the type of airspace the aircraft was flying within.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement that its investigators left for the scene Monday morning. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Bailey Reed, who witnessed the crash, told the BBC’s U.S. partner CBS News that the plane was “completely perpendicular” and “going fast” as it hit the ground.
“They didn’t have time to jump,” Reed said. “They were so low to the ground, the parachutes wouldn’t have deployed, and there was no way anyone could have jumped and survived that.”
Charles Crinklaw, a regular skydiver in Kansas City, told a local Kansas City NBC News affiliate that many of the victims were members of the skydiving community he knew personally.
“Everybody on that plane was somebody that I know,” Crinklaw said. “I know four of them very, very well. They jumped with me [at Falcon Skydiving] on a regular basis.”
Skydive Kansas City issued a statement calling the crash a “devastating loss” for “the wider skydiving community.” The company said it was working closely with the FAA and the NTSB as the federal agencies investigate.
“Our deepest sympathies are with the families, friends, and loved ones of all who were lost,” the company said.
Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson said during a press conference Sunday that his office was treating the incident as a “mass casualty” event. The victims have not yet been publicly identified.